alien uprising

A common tool for science fiction thrillers is the idea of total isolation. Force your protagonists into a situation where no one can possibly come to help them or hear them scream. A common setup for this is to use a desolate planet in the far flung reaches of space, a destination so far out that their nearest neighbor is light years away. Mix this with some dangerous character types such as violent prisoners who are so bad that they can't be trusted around any other life forms, and you have yourself the trappings of a nice little space scare. Such is the setting for "Alien Uprising".